In recent years, doctors and nutritionists have raised concerns about the amount of fat and cholesterol in foods because high levels of dietary fat and cholesterol have been linked to various disorders such as heart disease. It therefore has been recommended that the levels of fats and cholesterol in the diet be reduced.
Significant dietary sources of fat and cholesterol are foods containing dairy products. Those sources include frozen desserts containing high fat content dairy products, such as ice cream. Significant attention has been directed toward reducing consumption of such foods and substitution of foods having reduced cholesterol and fat content.
However, the demand for frozen foods containing high fat content dairy products has continued because of the desirable properties possessed only by those foods until now. Prior substitutes for frozen food compositions containing high fat content dairy products have generally not been able to duplicate those desirable properties. Those prior substitutes have been based on reducing the amount of dairy products or reducing the fat content of the dairy products used in those foods as compared with the amount of dairy products or the fat content of those dairy products used in prior food compositions such as ice cream. Reduction of the fat content of the dairy products in those foods has generally resulted in a diminution in the qualities for which those frozen foods are prized. For example, substitution of milk or other lower fat content dairy product for cream in ice cream has resulted in a food composition which is less rich and less smooth in texture. The flavor of such reduced fat content compositions is materially affected. For example, ice milk has a less creamy flavor and frozen yogurt has an acidic flavor. Also, many of those compositions, for example, sherbets and ice milks, have a noticeably icy taste and texture.
Other prior substitutes are based on complete elimination of dairy products. Frozen food compositions not containing any dairy products are even less satisfactory than the compositions containing reduced fat content dairy products. Such food compositions, for example, flavored ices, sherbets, and sorbets, are very much lacking in the texture and flavor of ice cream. The icy character of those compositions tends to predominate.
Recently, efforts have been made to prepare frozen dessert compositions from soybean curd. These food compositions have been unsatisfactory because of an unnatural mouthfeel and an unpleasant aftertaste left after eating them. Such compositions also melt very rapidly making them inconvenient to eat.
The substitutes for frozen food compositions containing large amounts of high fat content dairy products have not significantly affected the consumption of food containing large amounts of high fat content dairy products, and probably will not affect such consumption, in light of the unsatisfactory characteristics of those substitutes to date. Thus, not much progress has been made in reducing dietary fat and cholesterol intake through a change in the character of frozen foods. Thus, there is a need for a frozen food composition which has all the characteristics of frozen food compositions containing large amounts of high fat content dairy products, but does not have the high fat and cholesterol content.
An additional drawback of prior frozen food compositions containing dairy products is that dairy products are relatively expensive to make. Frozen foods containing such dairy products tend to be relatively high in cost. There is a need to produce a substitute for such frozen food compositions that is lower in cost without sacrificing the desirable characteristics of those food compositions.
In addition to the nutritional and cost concerns involved with the production and consumption of frozen foods containing dairy products, there are other undesirable properties possessed by those foods and prior substitutes for those foods. A particularly troublesome characteristic of those foods is that they lose their cohesiveness and drip as they melt. This is caused by the substantial differences in properties of these compositions in the solid and liquid states. In the solid state, these compositions are thick and highly cohesive. In the liquid state, they have low viscosity and are not cohesive at all. The loss of cohesiveness and drippage of prior melting frozen food compositions require that they be served and eaten at a temperature substantially below their melting points. Such low temperature allows them to be eaten in a reasonable time before they begin to drip and lose their cohesive character. The low temperature, however, reduces the sensitivity of the taste buds on the tongue to the flavor of the food composition. Prior frozen food compositions thus are not highly flavorful unless a relatively large amount of flavoring agent is used in preparing those compositions.
In addition to requiring that the food composition be served at a low temperature, the loss of cohesiveness and drippage can result in soiled hands, clothing, and the like if care is not taken when these foods are eaten. This is a special concern when these foods are in the form of ice cream cones, popsicles, and the like eaten by small children.
There thus is a need for a frozen food composition which maintains its character as a cohesive and solid mass when exposed to a temperature above its melting point, which resists drippage as it melts, and which is able to be conveniently served and consumed at a higher temperature than prior frozen food compositions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention of this application to provide a food composition that does not have the problems described above.
It is an object of the invention to provide a food composition and a method or process of making such food composition, the food composition having substantially the same characteristics of frozen food compositions containing dairy products, but without high fat and cholesterol content.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a food composition which is usable more conveniently at higher temperatures and does not have a tendency to drip and lose its cohesiveness as it melts.